The Secretary-General and his party travelled to Israel by road in the morning of Tuesday, 24 March, crossing at the Erez checkpoint, where they were greeted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Moshe Katzav.
Upon arrival in Damascus in the evening of Saturday, 21 March, the Secretary-General was greeted by the Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouk Al-Sharaa. He then dropped in on a celebration of Ireland's National Day by the personnel of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).
The Secretary-General arrived in Beirut from Cairo in the morning of Friday, 20 March. He was greeted by Foreign Minister Fares Bouez. He met privately with the Foreign Minister, and then both Lebanese and United Nations delegations spent over an hour discussing Iraq, the Middle East Peace process and the situation in southern Lebanon.
Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement, delivered in Moscow today at the State Duma:
The Secretary-General welcomes the return to Cambodia of Prince Norodom Ranariddh today after an absence of nearly nine months.
